Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

Chris Bacon wrote:
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

Return of the Jedi..or in this case Chris Bacon. :-)
Static from your body is the cause

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

In article ,
says...
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

You can do the same by holding a fluorescent tube in the air under EHV
distribution lines.

http://www.rag.org.au/energex/sm14mar04.htm

Rob Morley wrote:
In article ,
says...

Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.


You can do the same by holding a fluorescent tube in the air under EHV
distribution lines.

http://www.rag.org.au/energex/sm14mar04.htm


Its one of the standard van der graff demonstrations as well IIRC

Chris Bacon wrote:

Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

;-)

I posted this a couple of years ago:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...d56a06e530e233
or
http://tinyurl.com/9uj9b


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:

Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.


;-)

I posted this a couple of years ago:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...d56a06e530e233

or
http://tinyurl.com/9uj9b


Just read that post - I don't undestand why/how the neon screwdriver lit up?

"Richard Conway" wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:

Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.


;-)

I posted this a couple of years ago:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...d56a06e530e233
or
http://tinyurl.com/9uj9b


Just read that post - I don't undestand why/how the neon screwdriver lit
up?

For the same reason they light up in the microwave.
(Don't try this at home as some microwaves can be damaged by doing it!)

Richard Conway wrote:

Just read that post - I don't undestand why/how the neon screwdriver lit
up?

I expect it would light even when not connected to the tube - just being
in the beam and the chap presenting an earth by touching the end cap.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Rob Morley wrote:

In article ,
says...
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

You can do the same by holding a fluorescent tube in the air under EHV
distribution lines.

http://www.rag.org.au/energex/sm14mar04.htm

There is a better picture than that floating around online. I think it
was taken in the Bristol area and shows a whole field lit up with
fluorescent tubes.

This is a poor copy

http://www.bris.ac.uk/prospectus/pos...s/scif_lge.jpg



--

Matt wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:

In article ,
says...
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

You can do the same by holding a fluorescent tube in the air under
EHV distribution lines.

http://www.rag.org.au/energex/sm14mar04.htm

There is a better picture than that floating around online. I think it
was taken in the Bristol area and shows a whole field lit up with
fluorescent tubes.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3509651.stm

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Chris Bacon wrote:
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

May the force be with you. :-)
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...ylon_ambience/
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

In article , The3rd
Earl Of Derby writes
Matt wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:

In article ,
says...
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

You can do the same by holding a fluorescent tube in the air under
EHV distribution lines.

http://www.rag.org.au/energex/sm14mar04.htm

There is a better picture than that floating around online. I think it
was taken in the Bristol area and shows a whole field lit up with
fluorescent tubes.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3509651.stm

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite



A bit of leakage under a 475 kV line and thats a "field" now is it?....
--
Tony Sayer

In article , The3rd
Earl Of Derby writes
Chris Bacon wrote:
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

May the force be with you. :-)
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...ylon_ambience/
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite


Some hilarious dodgy old science there.
--
Tony Sayer

For the same reason they light up in the microwave.
(Don't try this at home as some microwaves can be damaged by doing it!)

Spoil Sport !!!

Dave

In uk.d-i-y, dave stanton wrote:

For the same reason they light up in the microwave.
(Don't try this at home as some microwaves can be damaged by doing it!)

Spoil Sport !!!

Oh, I see (at last). He was serious and meant some microwave *ovens* can
be damaged.

--
Mike Barnes

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember tony sayer
saying something like:

May the force be with you. :-)
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...ylon_ambience/
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite


Some hilarious dodgy old science there.

Isn't there just. Be bringing back phlogiston next, I shouldn't wonder.
--

Dave

In article , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember tony sayer
saying something like:

May the force be with you. :-)
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...ylon_ambience/
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite


Some hilarious dodgy old science there.

Isn't there just. Be bringing back phlogiston next, I shouldn't wonder.

Yes but I suppose they didn't know any better then....
--
Tony Sayer

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember tony sayer
saying something like:

Some hilarious dodgy old science there.

Isn't there just. Be bringing back phlogiston next, I shouldn't wonder.

Yes but I suppose they didn't know any better then....

It probably made sense in the day. Must have been quite frustrating, I'd
imagine, knowing there was a helluva lot of stuff they didn't know and
having to grope blindly towards it.

I bet they'll be saying something like that about us in a few centuries.
--

Dave

Chris Bacon formulated the question :
Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

Perfectly normal....

The voltage at the still connected end was passing through the tube and
through you to ground. Similar to one of those mains tester neon
screwdrivers, where touching the end grounds it and allows it to light
up.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.org

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:

Chris Bacon wrote:

Changing the bulb in the garage fluorescent, I undid one end,
dropped the tube a bit to pull it from the other end, and it
lit (I was holding the glass, about 2' from the still-
connected end). Is this surprising? I didn't feel a shock.

;-)

I posted this a couple of years ago:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...bedea21069/2cd
56a06e530e233?lnk=st&q=rumm+radar+tube&rnum=1&hl=e n#2cd56a06e530e233
or
http://tinyurl.com/9uj9b


My take on this was that, many years ago, during a winter's evening,
someone decided to play this joke....

Some bloke's headlamp bulbs were removed and replaced with a shorting
penny under the terminals. A radar set was then pointed at the car and
switched on - thereby lighting the headlamps. When the owner finished
work that evening, he was upset to see that he had apparently forgotten
to turn off his lights when he had arrived in the morning. However,
when he fiddled with the light switch he blew the fuse. When he got out
to try and find the fault, the lights were still on! And when he moved
around the lights went on and off as he passed in between the car and
radar set. When he inspected the bulbs, he was greatly surprised to
find the shorting pennies. I'm not sure how he eventually found out.

Sorry that this is somewhat OT ('cos this is not the same sort of
physics), but there are different ways of getting the same effect - or
nearly. I have no idea what his long-term health turned out to be.
These days, the perpetrators would have been hung, drawn and quartered.

--
Marcus
email: marcus {att} frenchay {dott} demon {pointt} co {periodd} uk